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Murders and ‘Eight Detectives’ meet their Mysteries!

July 13, 2022July 13, 2022
by Sameera Khan Rehmani

Eight Detectives fell in my lap after being underground for a month, It was then I realised I have ignored my small tight-knit group of readers long enough! Having spent these last 30 days or so digging deep into the theories and academic jargon for a research paper, I had my fill of serious reading and writing for a bit. So my eyes and hands were itching to read something light yet intriguing. Then came Saturday and off I went on my hunt for a juicy paperback! To satisfy my weekend craving for murder mysteries that for once did not end at Agatha Christie and Poirot in particular! My mind wanted more. It wanted another good, solid, foolproof mystery to tease me to alert mode. This tired brain was craving a good mystery. It was getting restless. It needed its regular dose of adrenaline rush!

this cover is taken from https://www.amazon.com/Eight-Detectives-Sunday-Times-Crime/dp/1405944978/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E0O0M5UAC4JV&keywords=eight+detectives&qid=1657705278&sprefix=eight+detectives%2Caps%2C159&sr=8-1 — **Photo Credit:** **Amazon.com**

Continuing my promise to myself, I jumped the gun and picked up another book from the same small corner book shop. I felt proud that I was able to finish my first book of this year in less than the time limit I set for myself. I wandered across the small spaces between the overcrowded book shop and smiled at the warm quiet welcome that the hidden corners were about to offer me in my search for another bestseller. I found the one and my eyes were itching to read this one. The Poirot inside of me was raring to come out and give his verdict about the credibility and finesse of the mystery in my hand! I picked the book and clutched it to my chest as if it would run away if I held it any loose. I paid and smiled my winner’s smile at the old lady beside the counter. She gave me the knowing look and laughed softly, ‘I know that you just found your treasure for today madam. Happy reading!’ With this, she swiped the card and I rushed out towards the tube in urgency to reach home and splurge on my find of the day.

The moment I reached home I threw my clothes like they were burning and clad in my age-old night suit (even though it was just 7:30 and a weekend), I jumped on my bed and snuggled inside my cosy duvet. I wriggled for 5 minutes to find that particularly comfortable spot and position and boy was I ready for this journey into the mind of the mystery. I was ready to find the faults of the author because according to me no one can write a good mystery better than Agatha Cristy! On the contrary, I was wanting so badly to be proven wrong for once. I wanted someone fresh and new to pick and tickle my detective bones for once. I was so ready yet not. Now was the moment of truth. With mysterious juices ready to spill out of the hidden chambers in my brain I opened the first page!

As I dived into the stories one after the other, I realized that this Alex Pavesi’s ‘Eight Detectives’ is indeed an intriguing piece of work. Written as a Mediterranean crime thriller, the book overall revolves around 7 individual murder mysteries. However, they are tied to one elephant murder mystery that comes as a pleasant surprise for its readers. The story is spun in a way of explores human emotions and relations that creates their loopholes, strengthening the mystery of the book further. The author picks the readers’ brains including mine when he creates the character of Grant McAllister, a professor of mathematics who wrote a mystery book in the 1930s. 30 years later, he was while living a secluded life he met an ambitious and clever editor Julia Hart. She had searched him down to republish the book. Grant McAllister while conversing with Julia put forward his own set of rules that according to him all murder mysteries follow. This intrigues the editor and urges her to find those in the written stories. While revisiting these stories with the author, Julia found her disconnects and pondered over her doubts since she found him to be a man with a hidden past that has its mystery revolving around him. While she was determined to unveil it, she realized the ambiguity and disconnect within the stories. Getting sucked into solving these discrepancies, Julia found herself unveiling the biggest mysteries of all that tie all the stories together.

As I closed the book, I heaved a sigh of relief. After a long time, I found my peace in the heaven of mysteries. I was happy that my mind was satiated for now. When I looked at myself in the corner mirror, I realized I was smiling like a Cheshire cat! I felt it is one of the most creatively written mysteries I read recently. I wanted to clap in appreciation that it ended so away from my continuing thought flow. I was still marvelling at the constant shift of plots along with my attention with every page turn that I made. It was challenging for my inside detective to keep to its original deduction while trying to read emotions and thoughts between the written words. The thriller potion throughout was so intense that I marvel at the involvement of the author’s originality in the concept.

The potency of ‘Eight Detectives’ is high during the whole read. I was pleasantly surprised, originally intrigued, and happily satisfied with my accidental choice of random reading. Even though these stories may have their weaknesses in lack of relevant challenges for the central characters in them. Despite Pavesi himself breaking his own thumb rule of form by hiding a very integral part of the information till the end, the style, and his capability to involve the readers in his mysteries are commendable. His power as a writer to be able to suck the readers in and almost succeed in confusing them till they reach the final pages is a powerful tool that cannot be ignored. I will look at the brighter side of the whole reading process.

If this novel can engage the reader till the end and bend or twist its own rules or even rules made by others, then for me it is a success on its own. After all the author is the one who went through his pregnancy period to birth it out for the world to experience a new life! Intelligent, inventive, fun read that has the strength of cleverness on its side. Hope you all give it a try and find your favourite mystery ahead! I can’t wait to read many more new and different detective works. My brain is game for however many may come, be six, seven or eight detectives or even one!

Literature in Life

Trio by: William Boyd

May 13, 2022
by Sameera Khan Rehmani

Last week with a determined scowl on my face, I left my almost 9-year-old with my darling husband and set out on my nomadic journey over the London roads. I left my motherly guilt behind and hopped from one tube to the other with a random feeling of freedom in my hair. among my many new year resolutions is my quest to read random fluff books that are chill reads and bring a sense of calm to this restless gipsy sitting on her desk writing for you. As I was aimlessly walking through the streets I stumbled upon a random run-down bookstore where I could smell nothing but the moistness of the weather and that nostalgic smell of paper and ink. I hesitantly peaked inside and realised perhaps I was its second potential customer of the day. I didn’t want to look for heavy writings, just something off the rack that could pick my regular reader tastebuds. Across the edge of a bookshelf was a corner that had a collection of hardcovers and paperbacks that have seen their day of success and were slashed half in price to churn out more moolah than they intended to do so. This lured the Virgo in me, and my pace quickened towards the folds of those complied pages. As I run my fingers through the ignored dusty corner my eyes stuck flat on the catchline, ‘The Sunday Times Bestseller’. With my interest piqued, I let my gaze scroll down and read William Boyd! Well, I liked the name and I like the amount of change leaving my wallet. Moreover, it could satisfy my reader’s cravings that are far away from intellectuality and philosophy of thoughts. The cover was intriguing and satisfied the glamorised cravings of pictorial satisfaction too. I was all set to flip to its back cover. As I was reading the very crisp gist with a red and black backdrop, I got sucked in by the setting that revolved around chaos and adrenaline pumped life of films and how the three individual character developments pan along with one storyline. Through the characters and atmosphere, the author seems to pull the layers away from the idealist approach and highlights the swinging of thoughts, identity, and beliefs. It may be nothing extraordinary in today’s world as we have come a long way, but the interest sets deeper when one reads through lines. Also, remember I was not looking for one. What Kate Winslet once said in the movie ‘Holiday’; “I am looking for corny in life”, sounded so true for me now and I was so ready for it!

The novel ‘Trio’ established in the Summer of 1968, may not sound as interesting as Bon Jovi’s single, Summer of ’69; but it was luring enough for me to read because it was the year Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated! The turbulent times build a stage tight enough to weave the characters through. The characters Elfrida, Talbot, and Anny may be separate in their identity in the novel, but they all have similarities that connected with my character in real life. In the novel, they seem to be leading their own secret life and so each one of us is in real life. This makes our bond with the plot stronger. I am sure if you have read it or if you are going to read it after, you will find some aspect of their thought development sticking with you. Perhaps that’s what made this book one of the best sellers. Just by reading the back cover, the reader in me wanted to know more for it seemed that the author has tried to bring out a commonality in the public and private life of most of us and relate at least one aspect of our personality and behavioural trait with the developed characters.

Since the story revolves around a film shoot, it depicts its ups and downs in the entertainment world. This pressure results in mixing the personal and public life of these characters, building up a pressure that becomes larger than what can be handled. What may allure you all is who among them will crumble, or will they even do that or will they all crossover? Trio’s crisp writing style and no-nonsense plot development bring about a pace that is fast enough for readers to get engaged, and still has leisure enough to not miss out on any emotional development reaching the point of hope, tragedy, and redemption in one setting. It is difficult for an author to bring a sense of balance between the slowness and fastness of the idea and plot development. What worked for me most was that till the end I was engaged to want to know what come on the next page without it being overly mysterious and detective. Also, as a reader you will not be disappointed for it will very smoothly take you on the mental journey of a human being that you do not know of yet at the end you will realise that that person can be you or any random Tom. You may even ask questions like what one will do if at any point life is not worth living. Will you buckle under or will a part in you make you sail through? For to each is his own…

As I was reading such fiction after a long reader’s block, I suddenly realised that it need not be a heavy-duty eclectic piece of work that makes us writers of excellence or readers of creative excellence. With all due respect to the creative geniuses and thinkers and philosophers, I now, even more, feel that we do need these bestsellers and random engaging pieces of feel-good reads since they touch on a variety of human emotions of sadness, monotony, and humour with fun and frolic, in single flow to make us feel contented, happy, and fulfilled. After this trio of reading, absorbing and penning down my feelings as a reader, I can’t wait to head back to find more love for this reading haven and share my views on much more light reads to bring a sense of relaxation and pure joy back to where it belongs…human mind. Until then, happy reading!

Films

Little Bottle of our Demons

February 1, 2022February 1, 2022
by Sameera Khan Rehmani

While I was watching Alfred Hitchcock’s version of ‘Rebecca‘, this Saturday night, I recalled the novel by Daphne du Maurier that I read when I was 12. That was heavy writing for my 12-year-old mind and to this day I can’t seem to synthesize the number of emotions that I went through while reading it and long after it was over. It made my then novice state of thoughts twist and tumble in my sweet creative vision that had just started to imagine everything will get a happy ending. It made a young reader like me believe that romanticism is the justification for every wrong occurrence in life. Moving toward the movie, realised that my young mind was so deeply impressed with the thoughts implanted at the age that while watching the movie at 40 even could not start with my romantic inclination of the thriller. Even today I was justifying to myself that the wrong that happened in the movie (i.e. murder of ‘Rebecca by the hero Maxim) is superseded by the human and romantic side of the characters. My idea of a happy ending has not loosened in strength even today as I was snuggled under my blanket in the wintery night. Despite knowing the story, I was somehow praying myself hard to let the hero free and be with the young heroine in their happy ending. However, my rational 40-year-old was constantly opposing the idea. She was trying to tell that the protagonist has done something wrong and needs to be punished. The end is not somehow justified in that he goes free and leads a happy life with his new wife while having the murder of his first wife (however negative she may be) on his hands.

Let me rewind! Let us turn back the wheels and maybe you can all peek with me into what ‘Rebecca’ was all about. So, this 1938 novel was written with a young woman whose name is not known, in mind. The story starts with her being married to a rich widower (classically powerful, charming, and intimidating). The young woman however realises that he and his household, both are haunted by ‘Rebecca’, his first wife who died. The whole novel revolves around the young woman’s journey to compete with a ghost and the truth behind her death.

Besides the intrigue in the movie, my thoughts shift towards the concept of justification of our demons. While watching the movie I realised what if we as individuals are faced with situations where our integrity is compromised, however, the cause for which we take drastic measures is noble. Does it justify our actions? Do we consider the consequence to be justified and put in the bracket of good deeds? Does our action justify our means? It is a concept that must answer to human illusions. The movie like any other of Hitchcock’s captivating geniuses was a masterpiece. It created a haunting scenario throughout with its captivating suspense and gothic thrills but in no way is it a horror movie. The suspense and successful creation of a strange eerie atmosphere are commendable.

This eeriness continues to creep within me when I look back at the time when it was more of a romantic novel for my young self, and I am astonished to recall how could I not absorb the mystery of human actions and emotions. Perhaps my young mind could only fathom so much and for me, it was more of romance that was created and exaggerated by the chaotic feelings it left with me after I was done reading. When the hero of the film, ‘Maxim de Winter’ explained to young Mrs De Winter why he hated Rebecca so much by saying, “I was carried away by her, enchanted by her, as everyone was. And when I was married, I was told that I was the luckiest man in the world. She was so lovely, so accomplished, so amusing.” His quote resonated so well with my thoughts at 12 where I was carried away by the novel, enchanted by it! I was sure everyone who read it thought the same since everything about it was so “accomplished”! Lying on my thinking couch the idea seemed to be so trivial but back at the age of 12, to a girl with her heart in her eyes and her mind in chaos because of the weird notions of romantic justice, his actions more than justified his thoughts. Even today while watching the film after such a gap I feel restless that my rationality overpowers my emotions. My heart still wants to justify the end, but my practicality says otherwise.

https://www.pexels.com/photo/depressed-young-man-with-blurred-head-in-dark-room-3833370/ — *Photo Credit: pexels.com*

My question here is do our emotions have enough power to cloud our judgements? Does the idea of perfection manage to lure us out of our rationality? Should there be a divide between our sense of judgement and taking of particular action out of our emotional turmoil? Is it right to bottle our demons up or is there a great need to talk and discuss this bottle of demons that stay rolling in our minds? We talk about the forbidden but at the same time we shun the discussions regarding ‘who or what shall not be named’. It is revealing to see how the concept or the actions can be a part of the discussion and not the doer of those actions. We tend to attach so many emotions and relations with the perpetrator that many times the wrong that is done end up becoming a mere figment of imagination. It takes the shape of a fantasy that is only discussed as a fabled myth of the romantic illusion of human psychology. When you and me or more like us, feel only the superficial emotiveness running through our veins, we forget that there is a harsh reality behind the façade. The so-called physical beauty and soft emotions like love and romanticism take over the harsh rationality of our minds. We then bottle these demons and leave them dangling around our neck as a magical locket that when gets broken lets that demon out with full gusto but by that time it is too late for us to pick up the pieces and bring them that bottle back into the original shape.

Poetry

Ruptures of Brain in Bookreads

January 19, 2022January 25, 2022
by Sameera Khan Rehmani

The book read on impulse

Ruptures on brain freehand

As I encounter other’s experiences,

Forcing them to master the write-up

Which then make our correspondence